In light of the new release from The Story So Far I thought this would be a good opportunity to express my love for this band and highlight some of my favourite songs of theirs. The new track ‘Out of It’ was released as a surprise on 13th September (rumours had been circulating but there were no official announcements), and I completely lost my chill – I was so excited you cannot imagine. The Story So Far have not released anything since their self-titled album in 2015, but the release of this track suggests that information about the band’s upcoming studio album may be due in the near future.
Firstly, the new song ‘Out of It’ is very typical TSSF, and therefore great. The chorus is strong and its repetitiveness makes it both aggressive and catchy. The verses are more varied with sort of underground, muffled vocals and lyrics about physical pain and confusion: ‘Cause I am all that you need, the hunger I feed, my loaded gun, always sore in my in my back, from the spine that I lack to really be done’. This kind of sound makes me very hopeful for the new album.
TSSF are a pop-punk band from California who formed in 2007, and also happen to be my favourite band. Since 2007, they have released three full length albums in total, the first being Under Soil and Dirt in 2011. Under Soil and Dirt really is incredible for a debut album. Although the sound is not as refined as their newer albums and Parker’s voice sounds more raw, the songs are some of the best the band has created. Actually, I think I have had an obsession with every single track on this album. The ones which have stuck the most past the initial obsession seem to be ‘High Regard’, ‘Quicksand’ and ‘Mt. Diablo’. Parker shows so much passion in this album. Most TSSF songs are pretty angry and nothing sums this up like the end of ‘Quicksand’ where Parker repeats ‘I’m trying hard, real hard, everyday not to lose my temper.’ The songs are quite spiteful at times, about relationships issues: for example ‘I’d like to think that you’re worth my time, but you embody everything that I hate’ and ‘watch the sunrise over Mt. Diablo, if you even bother getting dressed today’. The lyrics can be fairly matter of fact, and include a lot of swearing, but the tone of Parker’s voice makes this sound really powerful, in combination TSSF’s signature guitar riffage, heavy drum usage and the way that the songs build and fall giving them a really dynamic sound.
However, a few acoustic songs like ‘Placeholder’ and notably ‘Clairvoyant’ (from their split EP with Stick To Your Guns) are much more mellow and are actually really beautiful. ‘Placeholder’ features an extended metaphor of the sea which is used to show a longing for freedom: ‘Headstrong in the world, with the wind at my back’, ‘Free me from the anchor, depart these seas and let me do what I have to do’.
The album What You Don’t See was released in 2013 and is also a really solid album. My favourite songs from this are probably ‘Stifled’, about the difficulties of long-distance relationships and ‘Empty Space’ about relationship anxiety. ‘Empty Space’ has an interesting melody and the rhyming in the lyrics is clever: ‘I dwell on it nightly, Tread swiftly and lightly, Make up the lost ground, And see what you don’t see, All questions aside, I asked and you lied, And now my hands are tied’. This chorus will never get old.
‘Face Value’ is also amazing, but I only noticed this fairly recently – this song is really underrated. It’s about change and the lack of control when things are not how they used to be. The chorus is really powerful: ‘Is it so hard to think like we used to? It’s nothing I can’t prove, to my stubborn self, I can’t control you, selfish if I do, all of the plans that you made never included me.’
My favourite album is actually the newest one, the self-titled album from 2015. From the heavy bass in ‘Heavy Gloom’ to more chilled vibes of ‘Solo’, this album has everything. ‘Stalemate’ finishes the album with a typically aggressive note. The overlaying of vocals, fast tempo and build-up of emotion throughout the song makes it one of the best ones ever! I can only hope the new album matches up to this standard… and judging by their new song, I have complete faith in them.
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